CMU School of Drama


Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Clay Paky and grandMA2 Help UNCSA's Photonapalooza Showcase Student Talent

Live Design Briefing Room press release archives: The University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) showcased the talents of students in the lighting department at the dazzling 14th annual Photonapalooza. A.C.T Lighting, a long-time supporter of the event, provided a complement of Clay Paky Alpha Spot HPE 1500s, Mythos, A.leda B-EYE K10 and Sharpy fixtures plus a pair of grandMA2 full-size consoles to the show. A.C.T Lighting, Inc. is the exclusive distributor of both brands in North America.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

The one real pull for me that UNCSA had was Photonapalooza Showcase, as one of their designers who went to my high school showed off footage and it always looked like it was fantastic to be a part of. A friend of mine who is an actress has also told me about Intensive Arts, a playground style festival they hold. However, I had no idea the two were one entity. Photonapalooza bears a striking resemblance to playground central, with the major difference being that playground central was not set in a theatre. The fact that they got to work with Clay Paky to use fixtures they might not have otherwise is a cool thought, but also one that affirms my choice in school, as we have plenty of Sharpy wash fixtures available for use in design regardless of how small the project is. The idea of choreographing light pieces to James Bond is an interesting, but ultimately limiting idea. However, that being said, the fact that they would project sharpy-like hits on the floor to simulate there being even more light than there is for brightness is an interesting mix of media and lighting, and one that could ultimately prove to be a strong one when it comes to deceiving the audience into making a show look like it has a higher budget.

Unknown said...

This was definitely a major selling point when I was thinking about UNCSA. It’s such a spectacle and and all of the pictures are very exciting. But even reading this article I think I am validated in my decision to go with Carnegie Mellon because it seems like the students on our lighting track just have so much access to this kind of equipment. I do not have a lot of experience with automated equipment and this seems so much like an event, a one-time deal sort of and I feel like for myself I would prefer more of a class on this and then the big event, instead of the two wrapped up into one. But maybe I’m just misunderstanding the program. On another note, something else I noticed at UNCSA is that it seems like Media Projection is tied into the Lighting track, and I didn’t realize that when I was at the school. It’s interesting to me that the two can both be covered under one track, since the two require very different sets of design skills.